Door-opener.



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APPLICATION FILED FEB. 29, 190B.

Patented Jan. 12, 1909.'

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UNITED STATES PATEN OFFICE.

FRANK GONNER, or TECUMSEH, KANSAS, Assienoa or ONE-HALF TO WILLIAM DAVIS, or TOPEKA, KANSAS.

DOOR-OPENER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Jan. 12, 1909.

T all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, FRANK CONNER, a citizen of the United States, residing at Tecumseh, in the county of Shawnee and State of Kansas, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Door-Openers, of which the following is a specification.

My invention is applicable to all kinds of sliding doors and is especially applicable to doors for railway cars.

The object is to provide a simple and efficient means for operating sliding doors, and to mount them so as to prevent their lower ends from swinging loose, to provide a simple and efficient means for locking the doors, and to provide the parts and combinations hereinafter more fully pointed out and claimed.

My invention consists chiefly in mounting a pair of sliding doors on an upper and a lower rod by means of brackets, the rods each having a right-hand threaded portion and a left-hand threaded portion, to engage the correspondingly threaded brackets of the respective doors, with a means for operating said rods in unison, whereby the doors may be forced together or apart.

It also consists in a means for locking said rod-operating means, as will hereinafter be more fully described.

It also consists of the parts, improvements and combinations hereinafter pointed out and claimed.

In the drawings accompanying and forming part of this specification, and in the description of the drawings, I have shown my invention in one of its preferred forms, and have shown the best mode of applying the principles thereof. It is to be understood, however, that my invention is not confined to the exact details of those drawings or of that description, and that I contemplate changes in form, proportions, and materials, the transposition of parts, and the substitution of equivalent members, within the scope of the appended claims, without departing from the spirit of the invention.

Figure 1 is an elevation of a door equipped with my new device, this showing an arrangement applicable to railway freight cars, the top of the rear-box 39 being removed so as to disclose the gears within the same. Fig. 2 is a side view of one of the brackets by which the doors are mounted on the threaded rods. Fig. 3 is an inside view of the cap for that bracket. Fig. 4; is a View of the gearing within the gear-box, taken on a plane approximately through the line 4 of Fig. 1. Fig. 5 is an enlarged View of a portion of the top of the large driving gear, to show especially the socket into which the head, or key, of the operating crank is to be inserted. Fig. 6 is an enlarged sectional View of the gear-box and the inclosed gears, taken on a plane approximately along the line 6 of Fig. 1. Fig. 7 is a face View of a portion of the bearing for the larger gear, to show especially the location of the annular ridge which is engaged by a corresponding annular channel in the engaging face of the large gear. Figs. 8 and 9 are front views of portions of the gear-box, to show especially the arrangement of the slide which looks the head of the crank in place, and which also prevents operation of the gears without the crank and a similar head or key. Figs. 10 and 11 are, respectively, face and side views of the crank, the handle being broken away in Fig. 11.

Similar reference numerals indicate like or corresponding parts throughout the several views.

12, 12 represent a pair of ordinary doors.

13, 13 are a number of brackets secured at the top and bottom of the doors, and adapted with their caps 14, to engage the threaded rods 15 and 16, which are mounted on the frame of the car in end brackets or bearings 17, 17, middle brackets or bearings 18, 18, and other end brackets or bearings 19 and 20. That portion of each rod which is engaged by the brackets secured to one of the doors has a right-hand thread, as 21, and the portion engaged by the brackets secured to the other door has a left-hand thread, as 22; and the respective brackets are threaded to correspond with the respective portions of said rods, from which it will be understood that by turning the rods in unison in one direction, the doors will be moved apart, and by turning the rods in the other direction, the doors will be moved together. To operate both rods in unison, I provide a connecting rod 28, mounted in the brackets or bearings 19 and 20, and operatively connected with the rods by the miter gears 24 and 25; another bevel gear 26 is also Secured to rod 28, and is driven by the large drive gear 27, which is turned by means of the crank 28. While the large gear 27 may be mounted in any suitable manner so far as the mere operation of opening and closing the doors is concerned, yet for the purpose of providing a securitylock, for locking the doors by means of the operating mechanism, I prefer to mount it as shown in the drawings. Thus, the bearing block 29 which covers the rod or shaft 23 has an annular ridge 30 in its face which engages in a corresponding annular channel 31 in the engaging side of the large drive gear 27; and in addition a spindle 32 is screwed into said block 29 and passes through the middle of the gear; thus preventing displacement of the gear. The spindle projects outwardly from the gear as will be hereinafter explained.

The outer face of the gear 27 is provided with a centrally disposed socket 34 with a side extension 35, said socket 34 and the spindle 33 being concentric. The crank 28 has a correspondingly shaped head 36 to engage said socket, extension, and spindle, the head being circular to engage the socket, having a lug or projection 37 to engage the extension, and a hole 38 to engage the spindle.

The gearing 25, 26, 27, and the adjacent parts may be inclosed in a gear-box 39, which may be securely fastened to the frame or the side of the car. To the side of the gear-box is secured a plate 41, and between the side of the box proper and the plate 41 is a slide 42. The side of the box and the plate 41 have holes 40 and 50, respectively,

registering with the key socket 34, but having a radius equal to that of the socket and extension 35, though the exact size of these openings is entirely immaterial. Slide 42 has a hole with a contour corresponding to that of the socket 34 and extension 35, and also to the key 36, this hole being indicated by the numeral 43. Spindle 33 extends to and through the slide 42, and thus prevents the pulling out or displacement of the slide without removing the entire gear-box. Normally the slide is down as shown in Fig. 8. To insert the key, or crank-head, the slide must be raised until in position shown in Fig. 9, when the crank-head may be inserted, and the slide may then be dropped back, and thus engage the neck of the crank just above the head and prevent the head from being drawn out. Also by this arrangement, it becomes impossible for any one to operate the door without a key, or cranlohead, of this contour. An object of this feature is, that when my device is applied to railway cars, I contemplate that each station agent may be provided with a key, the key being removed when the car is in transit, thus preventing mischievous opening of the car. And in addition, the ordinary car-seal may be applied either directly'to the door, orto the operating mechanism. It will also be noted that with my method of mounting the doors, the doors may be opened and closed merely by the turning of the crank, while the absolute rigidness of the mounting will prevent the usual bumping, loosening, and other abuses of sliding doors.

What I claim is:

1. The combination of a frame, a pair of doors, top and bottom rods mounted on the frame and each having a right handed threaded portion for one door and a left handed threaded portion for the other door, brackets secured to the respective doors and threaded to correspond with and engage the respective portions of said rods, a connecting rod operatively connecting said two rods, a gear for operating said connecting rod and provided with a key-socket, a crank-key having a head corresponding with said keysocket and a reduced neck, a gear-box inclosing said gear and provided with a slide iaving an opening corresponding to said key and said neck, said opening registering with said key-socket, substantially as set forth.

2. The combination of a frame, a pair of doors, top and bottom rods mounted on the frame and each having a right-hand thread ed portion for one door and a left hand threaded portion for the other door, brackets secured to the respective doors and thread ed to correspond with and engaging the respective portions of the rods, a connecting rod operatively connecting said two rods, a gear for operating said connecting rod, a

bearing-block for said gear, said block and gear being provided with registering and concentric spindle and annular ridge and channel, and said gear being also provided with a concentric key socket having a lateral extension, a gear-box inclosing said gear having an opening adjacent to said key socket, a slide mounted in the gear-box and adapted to be brought into and out of register with said opening and key socket and having an opening corresponding in contour with the key-socket and extension; and a crank-key having a crank-head corresponding in contour with said key-socket, extension and spindle, and a reduced neck; all substantially as set forth.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand in the presence of witnesses.

FRANK CONNER.

Witnesses:

IV. H. JENKINS, C. J. ROSEN. 

